


Broken Glass and Forgotten Memories 2.0

by LikeAHuss



Series: B G and F M [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst and Feels, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Friendship, Humanstuck, Illness, Injury, M/M, Other, Sexual Content, Tragic Romance, other stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-08 12:32:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1941216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LikeAHuss/pseuds/LikeAHuss
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few years later and a much more developed writing style...<br/>The great story returns new and improved! </p><p>All things start out clean, new and fresh. The snow was always the whitest when it was first falling. The new couple was always the happiest. But like all things, nothing stayed pure forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Sunday, December 9**

The frigid December air engulfed the couple as they exited the warmth of the cinema. Chilly air slowly froze their exposed hands as they trudged through the ever increasing snow in the parking lot. Only a sliver of moonlight cast a soft glow on the whitening landscape, creating an almost eerily atmosphere. A sense of cool and bitterness in the atmosphere.

"Sol, that movie was fuckin' amazin'," Eridan gushed, "An like, in the end everythin' worked out!" The man speaking gave his partners hand a tight squeeze as they made their way to the vehicle. He was wrapped up tightly in a black wool coat and a purple scarf coving his wide grin.

"That'th how all thtupid romantic comedieth go dumbath. Maybe next time I should jutht thend KK to go with you." Sollux smirked in response, giving the hand in his an answering squeeze.

"But I can't make out with Kar afterwards." Eridan sighed dramatically, tilting his head to give the other puppy dog eyes through his thick framed glasses, “Plus, I _KNOW_ you secretly love them Sol.”

Instead of answering the taller male gave his boyfriend a playful hip check as they reached the car. “Jutht get in the car E.D, I’m too tired for thith shit.”

"Fuck off Sol, I can do whatever I want." Eridan pulled his scarf down to pointedly stick out his tongue.

Sollux rolled his eyes in response, untangling his hand from Eridan’s and making his way around the car to the driver’s seat. While he unlocked the door Eridan moved to the passenger seat, bouncing impatiently.

“It’s fuckin’ cold Sol, hurry up!” He complained, tugging his scarf up protectively.

“Calm your titth,” Sollux mused, finally yanking the door open and slipping inside, leaving Eridan to suffer a moment before he reached over and undid the lock on the passenger door.

“Cod, could you take any longer,” Eridan huffed playfully, slamming his door and eagerly pulling on his seatbelt.

“Could have,” Sollux acknowledged, closing his own door while simultaneously starting up the car. It took a couple of minutes to warm up, and then they were off.

The car gave a slight lurch forward before it smoothly pulled out of the parking lot. There was a content silence until they got onto the high-way.

“Sol,” Eridan started, pulling the scarf off his neck and laying it in his lap.

“Mhmm?”

“Look at me.”

Sollux raised an eyebrow and turning his head to look at the other. Eridan quickly leaned over and stole a chaste kiss from his lips. The car gave slight pull to the left as Sollux tried to linger a little too long. Eridan chuckled as pulled away, adjusting back into his seat.

"Jeez Sol, you're gonna get us both killed if you don't pay any attention to the road." Eridan teased cheerfully.

Sollux  fixed his gaze back on the road, "Well stop distracting me."

"Oh please, you love my distractions," Eridan jeered with a wink, smiling wildly.

Sollux's sobered expression broke apart when a smile cracked his face. He turned his head once again, taking one hand off the wheel to caress Eridan’s cheek.

“Thuch a teathe,” He whispered before releasing Eridan’s warm cheek to grab the cool wheel again.

The high-way was a bit icy from the snow other weather occurrences lately, it wasn't exactly the best conditions to drive on. But Eridan trusted that Sollux would get them home safely like he did on so many other numerous occasions.

Eridan didn't realise how tired he was until he noticed his eyes drooping and he felt Sollux shuffle a bit to turn the radio on. The volume was rather quiet but Eridan's ears still perked up at the lyrics that were slowly lulling him to sleep.

"Soooool, these lyrics practically some up our relationship." Eridan exclaimed as he snapped his eyes open again.

"Wow, Eridan I'm actually thtarting to wonder if you have been watching too many romcomth with KK", he moaned as Eridan reached forward and turned "You Make Me Smile" up and started singing out loud with it.

 Eridan was actually not that bad of a singer and it sounded pretty good until he made Sollux join in. Eridan couldn't help but laugh at Sollux's attempts to stay with the pitch which could have been the reason why they didn't notice the truck that had went through the red light and was speeding straight towards them until it was too late.

"OH MY COD, SOLLUX LOOK OUT!"

Eridan had just enough time to see the fear that flashed through those eyes before the truck hit the driver's side and rolled their car over. His vision went black but that didn't stop the deafening noise that went through his ears. The sound of screeching of tires and tearing of metal ripping apart seemed like it would never stop.

Then the car finally ceased to move and shuddered still. When sound and vision slowly came back to him he was aware that the vehicle was upside down and he was held in place only by his seatbelt. Everything was quiet in comparison to what had just happened.

Eridan attempted to move, making sure he wasn’t broken or severely injured. He hissed as he adjusted his right arm, after taking a blurry look through squinted eyes he determined it was probably broken from slamming against the door.

“Sol,” He croaked, cradling his arm to his chest as he remained suspended, “I can’t – shit, Sol? Do you see my glasses? I can’t fuckin’ see. Holy cod w-what just happened?”

 Eridan swallowed the lump of panic and tears rising in his chest. He was freaking out, mentally. He tried taking a few breaths, talking to Sollux in a mostly tame voice, until he noticed something was off about his one sided conversation.

His heart stopped

Sollux was silently hanging from his seat with blood all over his face. The mouth that he only kissed minutes ago were now hanging slightly open and a trickle of blood was spilling from it. His brown scruffy hair was matted in blood and the left side of his body looked crushed against the side of the car that got hit.

All in all, it was not a sight that you want to see your boyfriend in.

Even though it hurt like hell to move, Eridan fought through the pain and scramble to undo his seatbelt. The soft click was heard, which was so different from how everything sounded around him lately. He toppled from his seat with a cracking thud, swearing as he pushed himself off the glass covered roof. Quickly, he shifted over to Sollux's side over the wrecked interior.

"Sol . . ." Eridan whispered to him, terror gripping his chest, “Hey, Sol.”

"Sollux please answer me," Eridan lifted his good hand to stroke his lovers face, wiping away the blood gently. He could feel the dread that was creeping up his stomach and threatening to overlay his mind. Sollux hadn't responded to him at all.

"Sollux w-why w-wont you say somethin'? Just say somethin'. Anythin'." He could feel tears starting to well up in his eyes.

"Sollux just p-please. Please . . . please j-just say somethin' to me! Sollux! W-why aren't you sayin' anythin'!?" His own hand was shaking badly, unable to caress Sollux’s cheek.  Eridan withdrew his hand, cradling his injured arm again. He leaned back against the dash, glancing down he finally noticed the small pool of blood of which was under Sollux's head.

“Fuck,” Eridan started to shake uncontrollably, his terror dominating his body. The blood kept dripping, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t risk taking Sollux out of the seat, what if he only made it worse.

Suddenly arms were around him pulling him out of the wreckage and he snapped back into what was real. He was getting carried from the car and to one of the ambulances who were waiting at the edge of the collision. Through his hazy vision he could just make out a bunch off firemen taking Sollux out of the upturned vehicle.

He hadn’t even heard the sirens; he hadn’t noticed a single thing. Just Sollux in that car… so broken. He was so useless.

Eridan started to struggle and cried out his name over and over again. His voice was horse but that didn't stop the racking sobs that started to spasm through his body. Tears stared to run freely down his face he felt his emotions crash on him.

"Don't take him aw-way from me!" he cried out finally freeing himself from his savories grasp and tried to race to Sollux's side. He didn't get very far before his legs gave away when he saw the firemen rushing Sollux to an ambulance. He could feel a pair of arms around him and cried.

"I never got to tell him that I love him." Eridan whispered through another sob, “Oh cod, I just want to tell him I love him.”


	2. A New Type Of Pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the crash Sollux was emitted into the hospital in a drug induced coma. Throughout the weeks of being there he'd drift into some state of consciousness, but never for long. Even when he did it was hard to understand what was going on around him.

**Week 1 (December 10th)**

 

_Beep…beep…beep…beep…beep…_

 

_"Will he be okay or not?!"_

 

_"We won't be able to tell for sure until he wakes up sir. But from what we can tell it looks like he'll be dealing with a large chunk of memory loss."_

 

_"…How much memory loss?"_

 

_"All head injuries are different. We can only know for sure when he wakes up, as I have said before."_

 

**Week 2 (December 15th)**

 

_"Fuck Sol, Please wake up! I'm so fuckin' scared. I need you an' you won't wake up." There was sobbing on the bed side and a hand groped his own. "I'm sorry. Sol. I'm so sorry I was distractin' you an' shit. Just please be okay."_

 

_"Hey fuck ass. I brought you some shitty hospital food. We can't have you starving to death before Sollux wakes up. And… Aradia?"_

 

**Week 3 (December 18th)**

"I know you probably can't hear me… but I just wanted to talk to you. You know? Before you wake up and ask me to leave. I'm really sorry about everything I did Sollux I swear! And when I heard you got into an accident… I just realized that I still care about you. I care a lot and I needed to come back."

"Sollux, just wake up soon, okay?" A slender hand gave his own a tight squeeze, his own palm twitching in response. "S-Sollux?"

"Mm," Sollux slowly opened his eyes, a hazy face swimming into view. Dark brown eyes peered down into his own, "AA?"

"Sollux!" Her eyes widened and she broke into a relived smile. "Oh my god."

“What were you just thaying?” He asked, confusion written in his expression.

“What? Uh… I was just… apologizing,” Aradia responded, caught off guard by the question.

“About what?”

“Everything, I guess. I was just so scared you weren’t going to wake up,” she deflected smoothly, changing the topic.

"How… long wath I out?" Sollux blinked a few more times to clear the image of the hospital around him. Aradia was sitting in a chair pulled up to the side of the bed, her dark brown locks pulled back into a messy bun.

"It's been a few weeks. It's almost Christmas." She breathed with relief, "I've been- we've been really worried.”

"Is anyone else here?" He asked, correcting his lisp upon reflex.

"Karkat came to check on you again. I think him and Eridan are in the cafeteria though.”

Sollux frowned at the second name. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite bring up the face to go with it. "Who's that?"

“Karkat?” Aradia asked, he perfect eyebrows furrowing.

“No, not KK, the other one.”

"He's uh…" Aradia frowned, "Well I don't know too much about him, we never got properly introduced. But he's your dorm mate from what I know." She explained.

"How could I not introduce my girlfriend to my dorm mate?" Sollux asked in confusing, rubbing his aching head, shifting his other hand to better lace his fingers with Aradia's. "Hey I'm really tho- sorry if I scared you. I know it was probably hard on you."

"Oh no, it's fine Sollux! I'm just glad you're okay now." Aradia smiled kindly and tightened her grip on his hand. They sat like this, a few moments of peace as Sollux asked a couple of questions about the hospital.

"Sol?" Four eyes swept over to the doorway where a man stood. His purple lock of hair was hanging over his forehead, and his usually clean appearance was wrinkled. He let out a shaky breath and raced to the bed side. "You're awake."

"Yeah." Sollux forced a friendly smile, trying to link the face to his memories. It was hard, trying to pull a face out of nowhere. Like trying to remember a person you've never met. "We played Zelda the first day you moved in, right?" Sollux asked suddenly, a flicker of recognition.

"I… yeah we did." Eridan frowned, his gaze locking on the two hands interlocked on the other side of the bed.

Sollux's eyes scanned over the other man; the more he thought about it the more he was starting to remember things. Like when Eridan had first walked in the door with sculpted hair and fancy clothing. The first word that jumped to his lips was 'Prick'.

"I'm sorry I don't really remember much else…" He admitted. Looking at the haggard image before him gave him a bit of hope. Maybe Eridan wasn't as much of a prick as he recalled him being.

"The doctors said you might not," Eridan replied a bit deflated. "We'll be here to help you remember though."

"Yes, both of us!" Aradia confirmed. "Maybe you should start by telling us what you remember."

Sollux nodded and closed his eyes, thinking back to the clearest memory he had. There was the summer with Karkat, the lake house with Aradia, the first week of school…. Then it was a huge gap of black where he knew something should be.

Sollux frowned, jerking as a vivid image assaulted him. A truck speeding into the intersection. Glass exploding from the window beside him and someone calling him over and over… They were shaking, telling him to wake up.

"Sol, what's the matter?!" Eridan asked, now clutching Sollux's other shaking hand. His eyes flew open and he swallowed.

"I remember the first week of school, and then just the car crashing. And somebody keeps telling me to say something. But I can't. And I feel like there's something important I'm forgetting." Sollux shook his head and glared at the celling, "There's so much I can't remember…"

"It's okay Sollux, nobody is forcing you to remember just yet." Aradia murmured, patting the others hand. Eridan, on the other hand, was still frowning.

They must be pretty close, he figured, considering the other man held his hand confidently. In fact Eridan’s hand even felt… familiar. Unfortunately he politely slipped his hand out of Eridan’s, feeling awkward holding his hand in front of Aradia when he barely remembered he man.

Sollux sighed, rubbing his eyes with his now free hand. Pretending he didn't see the look of hurt the flickered over Eridan's features. "Uh, Eridan, since I can't remember if I introduced you or not, this is my girlfriend Aradia."

"W-what?" Eridan looked stunned, but quickly recovered. "We've met." He said, looking at the lady across from him, masking his irritation.

"Okay good. I figure she'll be over a lot more now, right?" Sollux turned his head to see Aradia's coy smile.

"Of course I will." She cooed.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Eridan's composer falter. "Fuckin’ fantastic,” He said bitterly, his purple eyes narrowing behind the thick, hipster like glasses. “I can’t fuckin’ wait to hear her explain what happened with Equius to you.”

"What the fuck Eridan, what are you talking about?!" Sollux's brows drew together; his anger instantly flaring at the tone Eridan was speaking in.

Eridan had tears filling his angry eyes, "You haven’t spoken to her since summer.” He argued, “You’re datin’ –.”

"Hey assholes," Karkat interrupted bluntly. "Sorry to interrupt the little spat here, but Eridan I need to talk to you."

Without hesitating Karkat swooped into the room, dragging a protesting Eridan out into the hallway.

"What that fuck Kar?" Eridan questioned, resisting the short grumpy man. When his arm was finally released and he rubbed it with a pout.

Karkat sighed, crossing his arms and looking up at Eridan with a serious expression.

"You're just going to fuck everything up, so I'm here to give you some good advice. I know you, I know you’re a stubborn prick and you’ll fight Aradia over this bullshit but listen up…. If Sollux thinks he’s still dating her than you have to let him.”

"Kar are you mental? I fuckin' love ‘im, there is no way I'm sittin' by while his cheating ex-girlfriend pretends nothin' ever happened!" He objected, balling his fists by his side.

"Look here douche bag, I don't want them dating anymore then you do. But I know how Sollux works. If you try to push shit on him he's only going to reject it even more. So back your shit off and just try to help him remember."

"…" Eridan was silent for a long time, his hands slowly uncurling. He hung his head and started to cry again, furiously wiping at his eyes. "W-what if he doesn't fuckin' remember anythin'?" He asked.

"I don't know," Came the honest reply, followed by a pair of arms awkwardly wrapping around his middle. Eridan sniffled and hugged the shorter boy, accepting the somewhat comforting gesture.


	3. Home.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sollux learns a bit about his room-mate, and even warms up to him a little bit.

**Friday, December 23**

The last five days had honestly felt like the longest days in his life. There wasn’t much to do in a hospital besides sleep and eat all the lemon flavoured jello they gave him. On top of that Sollux hated lying in the hospital gown, half naked. It was worse when a nurse had to help him shuffle to the bathroom.

The first day, when he had woken up, had been alright. A lot of people were there to talk to him, fill him in on the situation. Plus he had slept a lot, his body still exhausted from all the strain.

The second day the hospital had a mental specialist come to talk to him about memory loss. That was a seriously depressing conversation, followed by depressing hospital food for lunch.

He hadn't been remembering things very well so far. Sometimes he'd get this warm feeling deep in his stomach and he'd see a flash of SOMETHING. Most of the time they never made sense, maybe they weren't even memories but just something new and crazy his mind had invented.

Lately he'd been getting a lot of these weird thoughts when Eridan was around, which wasn't a lot. On the third day Eridan had brought Sollux's laptop in for him to pass some time on. After that Eridan hadn’t been around as much. Sollux chalked it up to work and the whole ‘not remembering him’ thing.

On top of that, even if they were having a nice conversation Eridan would abscond the moment Aradia showed up. Speaking of Aradia, nobody said anything about the little 'spat' they had.

Aradia had been really supportive lately; in fact she seemed a lot more… dedicated than he remembered. Of course his memory could be mistaken. Either way he appreciated having someone here to comfort him instead of pressuring him to remember anything.

This was probably the perfect time to address his injuries as well. Because after a car crash you don't usually walk away scot free. Through the weeks both men had healed up pretty well. Eridan still had a few bruises and his right arm was wrapped in a purple cast. (Sollux had even signed it in silver sharpie.)

Sollux got away with the head injury and two broken ribs, which were still tightly wrapped by bandages. The doctors informed him he’d have to keep them wrapped as much as possible for at least another three weeks. On top of that he had a couple stiches, a few on his temple, a nice chunk on his left thigh as well. (They were supposed to be pulled out soon, though. His body had healed them up in his sleep.)

Today was finally the day Sollux was allowed to go back into his dorm, back home. Karkat and Eridan showed up around noon to pick him up, thankfully with a change of clothes. Sollux slipped off to the bathroom to change while the boys checked him out.

He paused halfway through pulling on the loose black shirt, wondering which one of the two had gotten it for him. It was one of his favorite T-shirts, mostly because it was so soft. They'd even brought the miss-matched white and black shoes.

Sollux exited the washroom and stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans, feeling a papery crunch under his fingers. He pulled out the slip of paper with a frown. It was a movie ticket with blood on the corner, a movie ticket to the theaters on the 9th of December, the day of the car crash. He couldn't remember going to the movies that night…

"Hey asshat, are you ready to go?"

Sollux shoved the slip of paper back into his pocket and nodded, joining Karkat and Eridan at the door. Eridan presented him with a thick black coat, almost matching the one the other man was wearing. Sollux accepted the new looking jacket and pulled it on.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." Eridan's words were short and polite, but they seemed unusual. Before Sollux had a chance to comment Eridan spun on his heels and stalked out through the front doors.

“Excuse him, I think it’s that time of the month,” Karkat attempts to lighten the mood, holding the door open for Sollux as they follow after the other man.

“Right.”

"Let's get going, I don't have all day to cater your asses around." He grumbled in a deflated tone, ushering Sollux towards his truck.

"Yeah, sorry kk." Sollux mumbled.

Everything was blanketed in the thick December snow, only the vehicles peaked out from the bland white surroundings. Sollux sighed and focused on the figure swaying in front of him. It was weird to admire Eridan when he wasn’t looking, but he really didn’t have a good look at the other since he woke up.

Eridan was pretty tall, almost as tall as Sollux himself. He had a nice form, from what Sollux could tell, the thick winter clothing probably covered a lot of finer details. Even the way Eridan walked was model like, he had a confident but sassy hip sway. Sollux shook his head from these thoughts and tried not fixate on Eridan’s lower half. (It wasn't working.)

Karkat pushed him towards the truck, breaking his train of thought. It wasn't exactly the best truck ever…actually fuck that, it looked like a piece of shit. Its blue-gray paint was chipping and the bumpers were a little dented in the front. Sometimes you had to be careful not to rip the shitty door off.

"Uhh, is this piece of shit yours?" Sollux teased, grinning as he received a light punch to the arm.

"You know you fucking love dusty, now get it." Karkat grumbled, returning somewhat of a smile as he clambered into the driver's seat.

“Shotgun,” Sollux called, making his way to the passenger seat. He felt a little bit bad from Eridan, having to pull himself into Karkat’s back seat, which was cramped as hell.

So far he was finding he actually enjoyed Eridan and Karkat’s presence. Alone he found that things got a little tense with the boys, but together they sort of evened it out. From what Sollux could tell they were all kind of pricks, they joked around and insulted each other a lot. This was just a big pile of assholes in a truck that got along.

Hell yes.

Sollux belted himself in when he caught Karkat looking at him expectantly. He added an apologetic smile and a moment later the truck was flipped into gear and they pulled away from the hospital. Sollux relaxed, glad to be out of the white sterile prison.

The radio wasn’t playing; instead Karkat was playing one of his famous “good mixes” of music. (Questionable, really. If anyone had “good mixes” it was Dave.) It wasn’t terrible though, in fact it made Sollux feel even more at ease, like everything was normal, almost. After a few minutes Sollux twisted in his seat to look at Eridan.

Eridan had his chin resting in his left palm, his eyes gazing through the slightly frosted window. Most of his hair was hidden under his black wool hat, but the purple lock was still pasted to his forehead. Sollux was starting to notice Eridan had an obsession with purple, that and scarves. It was actually pretty cute.

"Hey e.d." Sollux had started using the shortened nickname on Eridan like everyone else. It turned out that in his phone Eridan's contact name had been “E.D My violet prince”. (He had changed it to just E.D though, for obvious reasons.)

The other man lifted his head, facing Sollux with a raised brow. Sollux was really curious about the dorm, mostly because every time he asked Eridan about their living together Eridan got all agitated and changed the subject.

“Just wondering if there are any other girlfriends I should be worried about, y’know?”

The truck had come to a stop at a red light and Sollux could hear Karkat slamming his head against the steering wheel beside him. Obviously he had asked a completely stupid question.

Eridan just stared at Sollux, his mouth slightly open. His expression became the same agitated and annoyed one he was used to.

"I like dick Sol. I'm gay."

Realization in… 3… 2… 1

"Oh. Oh shit! Sorry!" Sollux started to back pedal as the information sunk in. “Uh, that’s cool.”

"Sure, whatever ya say, Sol."

Sollux turned around in his seat again, avoiding the awkward situation he had just created and focused on the view out his window. It was probably better if he stopped asking Eridan questions about life.

To occupy himself Sollux pulled his beaten up phone out of his pocket to text Aradia.

_hey babe are you 2tiill coming over today?_

Too bad his phone was all fucked up. The "I" kept getting jammed and making doubles where the "s" didn't even exist. This phone was total bullshit, but he was kind of stuck with it.

_I'll be there d0n't w0rry! 0u0_

And then there was just the quirky way Aradia had always texted, but it made him feel a bit less like a tool now that his typing was screwed up.

_2ee you 2oon then._

Sollux sighed and tucked the phone back into the coat pocket where he had found it and stared out the window. It wasn’t long before the truck pulled into the school dorm parking lot and Karkat kicked the two boys out.

“Well let’s get goin’ then,” Eridan huffed, burying his face into his scarf as he lead the way to the building.

“Hey E.D, I’m sorry,” Sollux apologized as he shuffled through the snow beside him.

“’Bout what?”

“Uh, you know, asking such a dumb question.”

“Not your fault if you don’t remember my sexuality, do you even remember yours.”

Sollux frowned at Eridan’s flippant attitude. He had a feeling the whole situation meant more than Eridan was leading on. So he decided to answer honestly, hoping it would mend the situation.

“Yeah, I’m bisexual. I’m not sure how you forget sexuality.”

Eridan paused at the main door to the building, facing Sollux with an odd look before shaking his head and pulling the door open. They passed through the main room in silence and it wasn’t until they were walking down a hallway that Sollux decided to speak again.

“So, that’s settled?” Sollux asked, giving Eridan a hopeful look.

“Yeah, sure,” Eridan replied, biting his bottom lip softly. “I mean… we’re fine.”

Sollux nodded in agreement, feeling the overwhelming urge to kiss Eridan right there in the middle of the hallway. The image was broken as Eridan started to walk again until they reached the door to their room.

“Welcome home,” Eridan said with a hint of sarcasm, he shoved a key in the lock and pushed the door open, gesturing for Sollux to go in.

Sollux brushed past Eridan and entered the room, taking a look around with curious eyes. He had made it a few steps into the room when he noticed Eridan hadn’t joined him.

“You coming in?”

“Do you want me to?”  

“Yes,” Sollux answered instantly, surprising both of them. Sollux turned back to the room as Eridan came in, closing the door behind him.

The room itself was fairly nice. The walls were a bland tan color but multiple band posters were pasted on the walls all over the room. The flooring was a scruffy grey carpet, which was pretty clean.

“Take your shoes off,” Eridan instructed as he passed Sollux and flopped into the bed on the left side of the room.

Sollux did as he was told, taking off his shoes and the thick coat before admiring the set up again. Both sides of the room matched furniture wise. They both had a twin size bed pushed into the corners. Beside each bed was a small end table with a plain lamp. At the end of each bed there was a small dresser and against the open wall between the beds was a fair sized desk, a laptop on each end.

Sollux instantly recognized a lot of his own thing. His laptop for one, Alienware, black, a little bit scratched up. On top of his dresser he spotted one of his favorite little “toys”. (The bumblebee action figure from transformers. Yes, he was kind of a nerd.) His bed had red sheets and a blue pillow cases with a comfy thick black blanket that just cried home.

Sollux blinked away from his side of the room and took a look at some of Eridan’s things. He had a MacBook laptop on the desk that looked very well taken care off, on top of his dressed there was a photo album and a very professional looking camera. He was the least bit surprised by the neat black and purple bed arrangement going on.

“So, what do you think?” Eridan asked from his sprawled out position on his own bed.

“I like it,” Sollux answered with a smile as he took a seat on the edge of his bed. “Where are the video games though?”

There was a genuine laugh from Eridan as he straightened up from his bed. The other man didn’t exactly answer but he stood up and walked over to Sollux, for a moment he was confused as Eridan got to his knees in front of Sollux.

“What are you doing?”

Eridan put a finger to his own lips and made a shushing sound, leaning down to reach underneath Sollux’s bed, a second later he pulled out a box, and then another one.

“When we’re not usin’ the system you always pack it up and put it under the bed,” Eridan explains. One box was a small 32” television and the other was an Xbox 360 system.

“Can we play?”

“Right now?” Eridan shrugged, patting one of the boxes wistfully, “Isn’t Aradia comin’ over?”

“Huh? Yeah so, we can play until she gets here.”

“Okay…” Eridan looked up at Sollux with an uncharacteristically shy smile. “Let’s set it up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I changed quite a bit about this chapter. (The title, intro, and added a bunch at he ending.) So tell me what you think ^^


	4. Christmas Presents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's all share some Christmas feelings.

**Sunday, December 25**

The smell of sweet coffee wafted around the chilled air, pulling Sollux from his dreams of yellow and purple dragons. Sollux threw his arms over his eyes, shielding them from the blue light of winter mornings. Ah, yes, Christmas morning if he was to be perfectly correct.

He knew Eridan was awake before he dragged his arm off his eyes and blinked the sleep away. First of all, Eridan had brought coffee and bagels for breakfast yesterday; he assumed this would be the same. Second of all, there were the sounds of obnoxious Christmas Carols being hummed from the bathroom.

Sollux slowly sat up in bed, squinting at the desk across the room. Sure enough a Tim Horton’s cup rested on there next to a white wrapper that contained his favourite Cheesy bagel. Sollux assumed Eridan just kept getting Sollux his favorite breakfast out of habit, or maybe pity. He hated to admit it but he did feel a bit pitied.

"G'mornin'," Eridan mumbled over the edge of his coffee cup as he stepped out of the bathroom, his hair perfectly sculpted.

"Morning," He responded, sliding out from under the blankets and setting his bare feet on the cool carpet. "Thanks for breakfast,” he murmured as he stood, stretching his skinny arms over his head. He winced as his ribs protested and slowly lowered his arms again as he shuffled to the desk, unwrapping the bagel and tearing into its tasty warmness with his teeth.

“Don’t worry about it,” Eridan shrugged, taking a long sip of his own drink. “You still ready for Kar’s lil’ Christmas gatherin’?”

“Yeth,” Sollux responded around a mouthful of food. The plan was simple; everyone who didn’t have family obligations was going to have a friend-ful Christmas and KK’s and GZ’s house. The whole proper turkey dinner and presents and everything… “What about presents? I was in the hospital for a month.”

“It’s covered,” Eridan informed, absently staring at his cup, “We went shopping early, everythin’s in the closet.”

“We’re smart as hell,” Sollux mused, shoving the last bit of cheesy bread into his maw. “Tho whot time are weh leavin’?” He asked, again his mouth full of unswallowed food.

Eridan made a face as he watched Sollux chew, then raise the coffee to wash it down. “Not for a while,” He admitted, shaking his head. “You should probably take a fuckin’ shower or somethin’.”

“What? I’m not pretty enough for you?”

Eridan’s brows drew together and a small sneer formed on his lips, “Shut up Sol, I’m just givin’ you some advice. You haven’t really washed up since the hospital, it’s fuckin’ improper.”

Sollux frowned at the statement, “Sorry Prince Ampora,” He scoffed, taking a long sip from his cup again. “I’ll will taketh a shower for thee.”

“Cod, you don’t need to get so pissy Sol. I’m just tryin’ to…” Eridan sighed, shaking his head again, “Towels are under the sink.”

“Kay,” Sollux answered shortly, shuffling his way to the bathroom they shared. These little arguments had popped up every once in a while. Usually it was over the stupidest thing, like taking a shower, eating food a certain way, and playing music too loud. Sollux figured Eridan was a bit on edge, considering everything that happened. He tried to brush it off when the spats came up, no use in getting all worked up.

Sollux was careful to shut and lock the door behind him before shedding the black sweats he almost always slept in, along with his black and yellow stripped boxers. His eyes were drawn to the mirror hanging above their white square sink set in a brown cupboard. The mirror reflected the image of a scrawny man, a thick tenser bandage wrapped around his thin body chest. His brown hair was a mess, sticking up in every which way, and his eyes stared back at him.

He hated his eyes. Mostly because everyone always asked about they, like there was some terrible reason they were different colors. Why was he born with one brown eye and one blue eye? Sollux sighed, rubbing his eyes and breaking his gaze with the mirror.

He padded over to the tub, leaning over the side to turning on the water. He straightened up, his hands falling to the bandage firmly wrapped around his rib cage. The metal clasps refused a first, but he managed to pull them loose and slowly unwrapped himself, letting the bandage fall into the pile with his clothes.

Then he braced himself, carefully stepping over the lip of the tub to stand inside the porcelain bucket. With one hand on the wall he leaned forward to pull the switcher, redirecting the water to the shower head. The warm water washed over his battered body and he took his time gently cleaning himself.  

When Sollux finished his shower entered the main room again covered by his boxers and the towel draped over his head Eridan had already gotten dressed. He took a moment to check Eridan out from behind while drying his hair. Black jeans that actually looked comfortable, a purple V-neck and a silver chain hanging from his neck.

Eridan turned around and nodded to Sollux before entering the steamy bathroom. Sollux felt a little hot in the face as he padded over to the dresser to find something to wear. Obviously he needed something a little bit fancy; he was going to a dinner after all. As he dug through the drawers from something to wear he came across a gift wrapped box.

Sollux paused, listening to the sounds of Eridan brushing his teeth. He lifted the purple box out of the bottom of his dresser and checked the tag, even though he didn’t need to. It was obviously to Eridan, from him. Sollux held the box next to his ear and gave it a small shake, listening to the rustle of something sliding around inside. He honestly had no clue what was inside. The box itself was fairly big, square, had a big blue bow on top that had been a little crushed by clothes. Sollux set it on top of his dresser for now, turning back to the task at hand.

He managed to find a pair of clean dark blue jeans to go with a silky black button up. He took his time pulling on the jeans and sipping himself up, but the shirt was another problem entirely. Obviously he needed to re-wrap his ribs, but doing that himself was proving to be difficult. After a few failed attempts he decided to swallow his pride.

He needed Eridan to help him.

As much as he hated the thought of relying on someone else's help, let alone Eridan, he knew it had to be done. He nervously gathered up the tenser bandage and its hooks and made his way to the bathroom. Eridan stood in front of the mirror, his hands on either side of the sink, just staring.

"Ahem…" Sollux cleared his throat awkwardly, averting his eyes to the side. "Could you give me a hand?" When he got no response his eyes came back to Eridan's face.

There was no mockery in the others expression, no smirk or smug remarks. Only his hands outstretched to receive the wrapping. Sollux handed it to him wordlessly and held his arms out of the way. Eridan stepped forward, a resolved look in his eyes as his cool fingers began brushing against his skin as he started to wind the bandage around his middle. Eridan’s hands were slow and precise but most of all they were gentle, only pulling enough to keep the bandage firmly in pace. When the hooks were finally fastened his purple eyes raised to meet Sollux's observant stare.

Eridan’s cool features softened slightly, his cheeks tinged pink, his eyes affectionate. Sollux was the first to break eye contact, looking off to the side again. The hands withdrew from his chest and his arms fell back down to his sides.

"You're welcome."

Sollux nodded, “Thanks,” He replied weakly as he went to put on the dress shirt.

**** Hours Later**

"So you dick wads actually made it?" Karkat greeted Eridan and Sollux at the door, his arms crossed over his red Rudolf sweater.

"Nice sweater Kar, now are you goin’ to let us in or let us fuckin' freeze out here?" Eridan asked haughtily, shifting the presents stacked in his arms.

“You know I’m actually tempted to let you fuckers suffer in the bitter cold, but you brought so many presents you might as well be Santa, and nobody fucks with Santa on Christmas.”  Karkat's glare dissipated as he stepped back to let the two through with their arm loads of presents.

The inside of the house felt warm and inviting. It smelled like cookies and turkey all at the same time, hopefully not in the same dish. The hallway was decorated with the sparkly shit you wrapped around trees, except it was draped over the doorways and such.

"Hey KK, who's all coming anyways?" Sollux asked as he slipped out of his shoes, handing Karkat the presents to be transferred under the big tree in the living room.

"You two, Me, Gamzee and Tavros obviously, Dave, John, Vriska, Terezi, Kanaya, and Rose," he listed, "What were you born in a fucking barn? Close the goddamn door!" he bellowed, grumbling to himself as he carried the pile of presents taller than him into the other room, followed by Eridan carrying a few himself.

Sollux turned around, and gave the door a shove with his foot, only to hear it thud against something in the doorway.

"Whoa bro, just leaving us in the cold or what?" A smooth voice mused, followed by a slim pale hand pushing the door open to reveal Dave Strider, his aviators hiding any emotion his eyes, but a small smile was present on his thin lips.

Behind him stood a bouncing figure with messy black hair and bright blue eyes hiding behind square frames. The other man raised a bag laden hand to wave, his smile revealing endearing buck teeth.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you guys there,” Sollux apologized, chuckling as he backed up to let the two through the door.

"Hey Karkat!" John beamed as the short man returned from the living room. Despite the bags in his hands John managed to pull Karkat into a quick hug.

"Get the fuck off me John," Karkat mutter, his arms already moving to return the hug.

After the hug was broken everyone was allowed to shed their coats and winter gear. Karkat instructed the new pair to put their ‘shitty ass presents’ under the tree until after dinner.

"Sollux, it's good to see you again," Dave held his hand out and Sollux grinned as her returned the bro hug. “Looks like you’re recovering well.”

Sollux nodded, walking with Dave into the living room where he dropped off his stack of presents. It wasn't long before the girls arrived, Kanaya and Rose got there with in the next few minutes, followed shortly by the scourge sisters and Tavros. The only person who hadn't made their appearance was Gamzee.

"Hey kk, where is gz?" Sollux asked, a cup of hot chocolate cupped in his hands as he reclined on the loveseat next to Dave.

Everyone had found their little spot that they preferred in the room. Kanaya and Rose had slid themselves into the recliner chair, their hands now interlocked modestly. Tavros of course was seated in his wheel chair beside the big couch, where Vriska, John and Eridan were seated. Leaving Terezi spotted next to the coffee table with her legs crossed on the floor despite being offered a chair multiple times, such as the one computer chair Karkat had rolled in to sit on.

"Who else to you think is cooking?" Well that made sense even if most of the food Gamzee made was drugged up pie. He actually had some foods skills under his belt from high school, the only school he'd ever barely gotten through.

"Hey," Dave nudged Sollux's arm with his elbow, cocking his chin at Eridan and John chatting across the room. "That's your roomie right?"

"Yep, that's the violet prince himself. Why?"

"He's pretty hot, don’t you think?"

Sollux stared at Dave, his mouth slightly open at the question. It was hard to tell if Dave was making a joke because everyone knew Eridan was gay or if he was being serious right now. Dave must have felt the stare because he turned his head, raising a pale blond brow.

 "What?"

"Dave, I'm dating AA.”

"Whoa what? Shit dude, I thought you said that shit was like –.” Dave stopped mid-sentence and turned his head away quickly.

"Thought I said what?"

“Nothing, I mean it’s something but shit is serious and I’m not supposed to be influencing your memories like Da vinci influences inventions.”

"Fuck." Sollux sighed, "I'm really tired of people having that response."

Dave was quiet for a moment, occupying himself with his own cup of coco. “I wish I could help, but I’m not here to piss you off about stuff you can’t remember yet. Where is she anyway?”

"She's with her family." Sollux responded automatically, sipping his drink thoughtfully. It was obvious that everyone thought him and A.A were separated, but why? As far as he could remember everything was going just fine between them.

Well shit.

"Dave," Sollux started, his words being swallowed as Karkat started yelling and sending everyone off to the dinner table.

 

Dave stood up, offering Sollux a hand and helping him off the couch, then they followed the crowd, the conversation forgotten with the promise of food.

The dinner table didn't actually fit everybody, so a few people ended up eating at the counter while the island in the kitchen was filled with food but at least everyone was in the same room. Dave, Terezi, Kanaya, and Rose ended up on the counter. Eridan sat at the head of the table with Karkat on his right and John on his left. It looked like those three were actually getting along tonight. Sollux was seated on the other end with Vriska on his right beside John, and Tavros on the corner to his left, right in with Gamzee and Karkat.

The meal turned out to be decent. The turkey was moist and tasty along with the stuffing and mashed potatoes. There was a big selection of vegetables but Sollux mostly stayed away from those, taking some honeydew melon from the fruit tray instead. The best part of dinner though wasn't the food; it was the alcohol that was brought out.

Of course everyone one was full of turkey, pie, cookies and booze by the time they got around to opening presents. Everyone snuggled back into their spots as the hosts, Karkat and Gamzee, handed out the mountain of presents.

"Bro, open mine first," Dave slurred, smacking Sollux's arm as he looked through the small pile growing in front of him. He picked up the red wrapped package and black envelope. Dave flashed a smirk as he set to un-wrapping it. The card was one of those humorous ones about a dead reindeer, it made him laugh even though it was ridiculous.

"Tho what did you get me anywayth?" It didn't matter how hard he tried his lisp always found ways to slip by, especially when he was pretty drunk.

"Open it and see Captor."

Sollux grinned and made quick work of the red wrappings to reveal a mixed CD with a drawn gears cover, signature of Dave strider but that wasn't all in this magic box. There was a pair of aviator shades which he immediately put on, his vision going dark. "Am I cool now Dave?"

"Hardly," Dave chuckled, "Keep looking."

Sollux slid the shades from his face to rest on top of his head as he pulled out the last item in the box. It was a small photo album, which he instantly flipped open. The first page had a picture of Dave and Sollux holding beer bottles by the fire, and underneath was a date scrawled in Dave's print.

"Dave you…" Sollux flipped the page, going through more dates and forgotten memories. Most of the pictures had just Dave or Sollux in them, but they still gave him an idea of what went on in all those times he was forgetting.

"I didn't put anyone else in because I didn't want to fry your brain… I hope that's okay." Dave still had his usual expressionless mask, but Sollux was splitting into a huge grin. He leaned over and pulled Dave into a full hug, both of them chuckling.

"It'th perfect Dave. I love it." He pulled back and carefully placed everything back into the box.

They both brushed off the emotional moment and went back to opening up their other gifts. Karkat had gotten him one of his fantastic romcoms that he loved with a note that said _“DON’T FUCKING DIS IT. THIS MOVIE IS MY HEAVEN.”_ John bought him a video game that looked pretty amazing, Gamzee’s present was… interesting? It was just a glittery snow globe with a polar bear inside. The note attached said _“MoThEr FuCkIn MiRiCaLs.”_ Kanaya/Rose’s gift seemed the most sensible, there was at least a year’s supply of honey and junk food in a bag.

Sollux fell upon a purple bag he'd seen Eridan bring in. He pulled it up into his lap and pulled the card off, flipping it open to read a message written in black pen.

_Merry Christmas; I knoww you don't remember me, but I remember you. I could never forget the things we did and all the time wwe spent together. More than anythin I just want you to be happy Sol._

_~Sincerely Eridan Ampora_

Sollux gently set the card aside and plunged his hands into the bag. It came across something soft and plush; he latched on to it and pulled it out. A barrage of images assaulted his mind, small glimpses of things he'd done before.

_"You're welcome, you deserve it." Eridan's ringed hands dropping the bee into his lap in the middle of a mall._

 

_"Hey Sol! Take your fuckin' bee with you!" Eridan standing in the middle of their room, looking pissed and sad at the same time._

 

_"That'th my bee you're thleeping with dumbath."_

_"Fuck off, I bought it!" Eridan lying on his bed with the bee tucked under his chin, sticking his tongue out._

A medium sized stuffed bee sat in his lap with big innocent eyes. It was comforting and striped and it was perfect. Sollux looked up to meet Eridan's gaze across the room and he smiled. Except Eridan wasn’t there, instead a pile of wrapping was abandoned, a medium sized box toppled on the floor.

John was frowning and picking the box up, placing a stuffed seahorse into the box along with a small velvet covered box… Something like a ring box. Figures someone would by Eridan a ring to go with his giant collection.

An hour later Sollux found himself on the back deck of the house next to Dave, keeping him company while he smoked a cigarette. The smoke billowed from his lips, twining with the mist from his hot breath. Sollux watched as it drifted away into the darkness.

"You're right, you know." He declared, switching his gaze from the night sky to Dave's face.

"’Course I am… what am I right about this time?" Dave replied and turned his body towards Sollux.

"I feel like I’m mithing out on a lot, but you can’t really help out, even if you wanted to. I gotta remember shit on my own.”

“Well a Strider is always an abundance of knowledge.”

"He’th altho a dick head that keepth hith  glatheth on in the fucking dark." Sollux chuckled and pulled his hands out of his pockets, reaching forward. "Can I?" Dave gave a short nod and Sollux took a hold of the arms, sliding the shades away.

They still made him catch his breath, no matter how many times he saw them. Dave's eyes shone under the moonlight, red and blazing as always. Sollux slowly let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"They're amazing," he breathed, getting a smirk in return.

"So are yours." One pale hand rose to cup Sollux's cheek and before he was aware of leaning forward, the space between their faces was no more. Their lips collided in a kiss, something warm tingled in his chest as they slowly separated.

“We’re drunk,” Sollux whispered matter-o-factly.

“So? Do you want me to back off?”

Sollux didn’t have an answer for that; he wasn’t sure what he wanted. Dave tilted his head again and joined their lips in another kiss, taking Sollux’s lack of protest as approval. For a moment everything else melted away and Sollux lost himself in the warm kiss, fisting his hands in Dave’s coat and pulling his warmth closer.

Sollux felt Dave smile against his lips before the other man pulled away, removing his hand from Sollux’s cheek. The two stared at each other for a moment before exchanging content drunken smiles.

"Merry Christmas," Dave breathed, a hint of laughter in the statement.

"Merry Chrithtmath."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dave plz. 
> 
> Stop being so smooth.


	5. Something Broken, Something Fixed

**Thursday, December 29**

Eridan swept around the dorm, getting ready for work. Honestly he didn’t really need the job, considering his rich family background, but he did appreciate the atmosphere. Also it made him seem less of a prick that never worked a cent in their life.

Eridan wrapped the thick black scarf over his mouth and nose, sighing into the soft fabric. School didn't start up again for another few days, so he was left with an early morning shift. 8:30am on a freezing morning was complete shit, he thought to himself, slipping his satchel over his head so the strap lay across his chest.

The one shitty thing about relying on Sollux to drive him for so long was that he literally had no other ride to work. His eyes glanced over the sleeping figure in the bed across the room, making his heart ache. Since Christmas Sollux had been sleeping with the bee stuffy curled in his arms. Eridan frowned, rubbed his eyes and searched for a post-it note to scrawl a quick note for Sollux.

_Wwent to wwork, see you for wwhatevver at 2-ish_

It was a pointless task, but Eridan felt better doing it. Just as he was about to leave his phone vibrated in his pocket. He fished it out, casting a glance at Sollux to see if he had stirred. Nope. Nothing. The quiet snores continued from the bed.

_YOU WANT A FUCKING RIDE AMPORA?_

Eridan almost cheered at the text flashing across his screen. The short grey savoir had come to his rescue once again, unlike some other douchebag he could name. Eridan looked to Sollux again, just waiting for the other to give him the usual morning goodbye.

_wwhat time can you be here_

Eridan sent the quick text as he started to slip out of the dorm room. A second later the phone vibrated again with a new message.

_I'M ALREADY OUTSIDE. NOW HURRY THE FUCK UP ASSHOLE._

Eridan returned the phone to his pocket and started in the direction of the parking lot. Shitty truck or not the ride to work was welcome, especially one from his short troll like fairy godmother. Kar had been pretty supportive lately, someone to hang out with when Sollux was out with Aradia or Dave.

The crisp air surrounded Eridan as he pushed through the doors, scanning the parking lot for his ride. Sure enough the old truck was waiting outside the building with a short figure seated in front of the wheel, all wrapped up in grey. Eridan buried his face in his scarf, hunching down against the wind.

When he reached the truck his gloved hands left his pockets to yank the door open, then to pull himself into the warm inviting interior. Eridan slammed the door shut and let out a small relieved sigh as he pulled on his seat belt.

"Good morning princess, thank you for inviting all that cold air in from your icy palace,” Karkat grumbled, shifting the truck into reverse as they pulled out of the lot.

"Geez Kar, I never  _asked_  for you to come pick me up." Eridan scoffed, gazing out the window.

“Well you can jump the fuck out if that pleases your royal ass, be my fucking guest.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, what the fuck is up with you?”

“I feel like shit. The cold winter has blessed me with some forsaken cold or some shit.”

 There was a long silence before Eridan spoke again, "Thanks. For picking me up when you feel like crap."

"No problem. I knew you couldn't get a drive from lispy. The dumb fuck," Karkat sniffed, "How are you?"

"Still sucks," Eridan shrugged, "He’s hangin’ out with that douchebag Dave a lot since the party. Other than that everythin’ is the same. What about you?”

"Besides this satanic cold, I’m fine."

Karkat made the final turn and pulled up in front the Starbucks Eridan worked at. Yes, Eridan Ampora was a Barista, a pretty good one too. He liked working around coffee; he loved the smell and the taste. All around it was a pretty great job when there were no crazy customers coming in.

"Want me to pick you up?" Karkat asked, making a face before sneezing into his sleeve.

“I get off at two, can you pick me up then?”

“Sure, I’m not working anymore. Got laid off for a while,” Karkat answered, waving off the sorry that came to Eridan’s lips. “I’ll see you at two.”

Eridan nodded, pulling his scarf up again to shield him before he undid his seatbelt. Just as he was about to exit the vehicle a hand wrapped around his wrist, haling him. The small rough hand gave his wrist a small squeeze before releasing him.

"Yes?" Eridan asked, looking up from his arm to Karkat's face. Even between the messy dark hair and pulled up scarf Eridan could see the redness in the others face.

"Have a good day."

"Yeah, thanks Kar."

** **Hours later**

Sollux was rudely torn from his dreams from the pinging sounds emanated from his phone. He let it ring, shoving his face into the pillow and ignoring it. The ringing stopped a few seconds later and Sollux relaxed, wiggling into a comfortable position to resume sleeping.

Just as he was starting to drift off minutes later, the ringing started again. Sollux growled into his pillow, cursing the ignorant fuck calling him this early in the morning. However early it was. Sollux lifted himself from his pillow and patted the bedside table until he grasped his phone, answering it with an annoyed tone.

"Hello?"

"Sup Captor."

"Fuck you Dave, I was enjoying my peaceful dreams,” Sollux rubbed his eyes with one hand and crushed the plush bee to his chest with the other. Since Christmas a few things had been happening. Sleeping with the bee being one, and  hanging out with Dave being two.

"I’m here to tell you I’m much better in real life,” Dave teased, and Sollux could picture the cocky smirk the other would be wearing. They hadn’t really addressed anything sexual seriously since the whole… kiss thing.

 Sollux groaned and sat up in bed, “I don’t appreciate your cocky banter this early in the morning, dude. I hope you were calling about something actually important.”

"You forgot didn't you?" Dave guessed from the other end.

"No," He objected tersely, "I did not." Sollux frowned, having no idea what Dave was talking about.

"Liar."

"Fuck you, Dave."

"I know you want to. So where are you meeting her then?"

Sollux chuckled sarcastically, pulling the covers down and shifting to sit on the edge of the bed, his feet scrubbing the carpet.

“Meeting her?” Sollux asked, “Oh shit. What time is it?!”

“I knew it, it’s ten o’clock.”

"Shit balls,” Sollux answered, dragging himself off the bed to go through clothing, he needed something to wear. “I’m supposed to be at Starbucks in thirty minutes.”

"Running a little late there Captor?"

"Yeah, thanks for the wake-up call," Sollux hopped about, trying to pull his black jeans on with one hand while holding the phone to his ear with his other. "Talk to you later?"

"Yeah bro, call me up whenever."

"Sure thing."

With the phone call ended Sollux properly pulled on his jeans, hunting for a clean shirt next. He settled on a red T-shirt with the Coca Cola label, not that anyone would really see it under his coat. It took about five minutes to get bundled up in his black jacket and blue scarf, and for the hell of it he had started wearing the shades Dave had gotten him.

Getting there was a whole other debacle. It took a while to coax his little car to start, and then he had to sit in the cold vehicle while it warmed up. After that it was just the drive. The new car wasn’t as homey as his old one had been, but it got him where he needed to go.

Sollux got to the coffee shop with a few minutes to spare, and it didn’t look like Aradia had shown up early, her own car nowhere in sight. Sollux stripped off his gloves and hat, throwing them into the passenger seat before quickly exiting the car and dashing to the shop.

Snow billowed in around him and he coughed into his scarf. He hurried to the door and used the sleeve of his jacket to protect his hand as he pulled the door open. Once inside he loosened his scarf and straightened his appearance.

When he arrived at the counter the barista was turned around, distracted by one thing or another. Sollux used the moment to check out the server. (Pretty cute butt on that one, actually.) The man turned around and gave Sollux a heart attack.

"What can I get ya?" Eridan asked, finally looking up. "Oh. Sol."

Dear god Sollux was blushing, this was totally embarrassing. Pretend it was the cold, just smile and pretend nothing happened.

"Hey ED," He said as smoothly as he could manage, smiling politely, "Fancy seeing you here."

"No kiddin', what are you doin' here?"

"Oh. Well Aradia is meeting me here in a few minutes."

"Oh, isn’t it kinda early for a date?”

"I'm…" Sollux glanced over his shoulder before turning back with a sigh, "I'm ending it."

"Well no shit," Eridan mused, a hint of a smile forming, "But anyway, is there somethin' I can get ya?"

"Uh, something good with honey?”

Eridan nodded and went about making Sollux a drink, which took about a whole minute. Money passed between hands and just as Sollux was about to leave with his drink Eridan called him back.

"Do you have plans for New Year's Eve?"

"Nah," Sollux shrugged, "Why? You got something planned?"

"Yeah, well actually I was goin' to hang out with Kar but since you don't have anythin' to do now…"

Sollux cut him off and waved his hand, shaking his head. "No dude, don't cancel your plans with KK, I'll just call up Dave and see if he wants to chill or something… Thanks for the offer though."

“Yeah, sure it was nothin’,” Eridan replied, shrugging it off as he turned to the next person in line.

Sollux shuffled over to an open table with his drink. He slipped into the metal chair and slumped over his drink, taking an experimental sip. He was surprised by the sweet taste that exploded on his tongue, and greedily slurped up more. Eventually he got bored of sitting and pulled out his phone, playing Tetris to pass the time.

"Earth to Sollux," Aradia giggled, waving her slim hand in front of his face to get his attention. He hadn’t even noticed her sitting down during his intense game.

"Hey AA," Sollux greeting, slipping the phone back in to his pocket and straightened up in his seat, "Sorry about that."

"Oh it's fine! Now what did you want to talk about, it sounded like it was important."

"Right… Well I’ve been thinking a lot lately and figured some things out.”

"Oh that's great Sollux!”

"Aradia, why did we break up?” Sollux asked, his gaze falling to his hands wrapped around the warm drink in his hand.

Aradia's smile faded away and she pursed her lips, “I’m sorry I didn’t correct you when you first woke up. It’s just… I really missed you Sollux.”

"What?" Sollux's brows furrowed in confusion, "We were still friends, weren’t we?”

"Not really." A collection of tears were building in Aradia's eyes and Sollux reached across the table to take on of her hands in his own. “You didn’t want to talk to me after… after everything. And… oh god…” Aradia sniffled and wiped away tears with her free hand.

“AA, please don’t cry. It couldn’t have been that bad?”

“Oh Sollux, I… I cheated on you with someone else. And it was so stupid. So stupid of me…”

“Oh,” Sollux frowned, debating this new information for a while before giving Aradia’s hand a comforting squeeze. “I don’t care about that.”

"What?” Aradia gasped, shaking her head, “But Sollux.”

"These past few weeks have sucked, really bad. But it made me realize how much I appreciate you, I mean I love you AA, and I don’t want to lose you again over something that was stupid.”

"Okay," She breathed, flipping her hand to better tighten her grip. "I understand. So… what does that mean for us?”

“I just… I want to stay friends. I need time to remember and figure things out.”

“Yes, okay. That’s perfectly fine, you take all the time you need,” Aradia smiled, wiping away the last of her tears. “I feel so silly now. Um, I don’t want to seem rude but I should head out.”

"Sure," Sollux rose out of his seat with her, "Take care okay?" Aradia nodded and stepped forward to exchange a farewell hug before she picked up her beverage.

"I'll call you later or something," She assured over her shoulder. Just like that she was back out into the cold, disappearing somewhere into the streets.

** **Hours later**

Eridan pulled the apron over his head and hung it up on its hook in the back room. Work had gone same as always, despite Sol showing up to end it with Aradia. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that. Apparent Sollux had found some reason or another to end it. Maybe that meant he was remembering?

Maybe he was stressing too much over this. How many times had Kar told him to just give it time? It was getting better wasn't it? They were talking to each other and playing video games. But some nights they just got in each other's faces, spitting and yelling and fighting over god knew what.

When it came to apologize they would both just feel like shit. Eridan knew he pushed all the buttons Sollux had and it just made it worse. But every time he'd say sorry he wanted to pull Sollux into his arms so badly and cry against his chest. Every time he'd just get a short bro hug with no worries but that wasn't what he wanted.

Eridan was tearing up just thinking about it for fucks sakes. He scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, refusing to do this here. He needed his rock right now. His phone was soon in his hands to exchange texts with a certain short terror. By the time he got all his winter gear on the truck was waiting for him out front along.

Eridan hopped into the passenger seat and buckled up without a word to the driver until they had started heading back to the dorms. Eridan was about to protest on the grounds that he did NOT want to see Sollux when his phone started to buzz.

_hey ED._

_hi sol_

_ju2t wanted to let you know ii'm 2tayiing the niight at dave'2 kay? 2ee you around noon tomorrow._

_havve fun losers_

_thank2 eheh._

Looks like it didn't matter; the prick wasn't even going to be home. When Karkat pulled into the usual spot Eridan didn't move.

"Well?" Karkat finally huffed impatiently.

"Kar…do you w-want to come in?" Eridan stuttered, sniffling into his scarf. Karkat's irritated mood instantly softened and he turned off the truck, shoving the keys deep into his pocket.

"He's not home?" Karkat asked, receiving a pitiful nod in reply, “Fucking figures.”

The two men slipped out of the vehicle and trudged their way into the building. Eridan only pulled ahead to unlock the door to the shared dorm before reducing himself to a useless mess. Karkat was left to close the door behind them and pick up the discarded outer wear.

"Eridan what the fuck! Did you literally invite me in so I could watch you turn into a puddle of emotions?" Karkat grumbled while kicking aside garments and removing his own winter coat. "Get the fuck out of those blankets or so help me god I will strangle you with them."

"Fuck you Kar, I'm in an emotional crisis an you're just fuckin' yellin' at me." Eridan complained from under the blankets. "I'm in need of some emotional support an w-what are you giv-vin' me?" The blankets were yanked back and Karkat clambered onto the bed beside the ball of what used to be Eridan Ampora.

"Sit up you dense fuck," Karkat instructed, though his voice had lost its usual bitter edge. Eridan complied and sat up straight, receiving the full blown hug from the shorter man. It was nice to point out that Karkat was literally the shortest little devil he had ever known. The arms wrapped about Eridan's middle where tense and the head on his chest felt odd, but it was comforting. Eridan moved his arms around thin shoulders and dropped his head into the dark mess Karkat called hair.

"Thanks Kar," He sobbed softly, tears running down his cheeks and into the soft hair. Karkat mumbled a 'you're welcome' in response, relaxing into the embrace. It was quite a while before Eridan detached himself.

"Look man, I know it's rough," Karkat started, "And shit… I know you-"

"Kar."

"No shut up. I know you-"

"Kar!"

"Eridan shut the fuck up!"

"You!" Eridan’s lips formed a prissy pout as Karkat continued.

"Make me! As I was SAYING, I know it’s tough but turning into a pile of complete pathetic sorrow isn’t helping anyone."

Eridan continued to pout as Karkat barreled on with his speech. It was probably supposed to cheer him up, but it just made him feel even more helpless and lost. In a desperate fit to try and shut Karkat up Eridan cupped the shorter man’s face, pressing a firm kiss to the others lips.

When he pulled away Karkat gaped for about a whole second before pressing his lips together again, it looked like an unimpressed scowl really, making Eridan feel even shittier.

"Eridan I can't…" Karkat started, the statement falling short.

“I’m sorry,” Eridan gasped, fresh tears spilling over his cheeks, “Oh cod I’m so fuckin’ sorry, I’m so fuckin’ pathetic.”

“Shut the fuck up Eridan, you’re perfect, just a little emotional. I understand, now please stop blubbering.”

"Kar just… stay w-with me?"

Karkat agreed wordlessly and the two shared another hug, one of them ending up considerably damper afterwards. Once all that was said and done the two crawled under the purple covers of Eridan's twin sized bed, settling his MacBook between them to watch a RomCom to ease the situation. Just two perfectly normal guys watching romantic movie after romantic movie, sharing their feeling over each one until they fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some more changes, I don't know. The next chapter is quite a handful. :I What do you think so far?


	6. New Year's Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to shake things up with the New Year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy cow. I combined 2 chapters for this one and made it into one, with a couple changes.

**New Year’s Eve**

Sollux let out a frustrated sigh and pulled the headphones off his head, dropping them onto the desk with a thud. He then used the desk to shove himself back, the office chair rolling until it got caught up on a discarded T-shirt lying on the floor. He should probably clean up a bit, unless he wanted to listen to Eridan’s parent like scolding. 

Sollux scowled to himself and ran his hands through his hair, pulling them away with a slightly greasy feel. That’s basically what happened when he spent days coding. Coding that he hadn’t even finished yet, which was going to fester and piss him off until he got it done. At least he would have ample time to drink away his worry tonight at Dave’s New Year party.

Sollux rose out of the chair and shoved it back under the desk, scooping the phone off the desk and scrolling through his contacts. 'iin2uferable priick' wasn't hard to find on the list. He thumbed the call key with a sigh and raised it to his ear, pinching the bridge of his nose while listening to the call-back ring in his ear.

"Sup Captor. Make it quick I'm on my break."

"Right, well I’m going to start getting ready now, I’ll probably be at the club in and hour?”

"Sweet shit man, just tell the bouncer you're with me, skip the fucking line up he knows I'm expecting a scrawny ass dude tonight."

"Great," Sollux chuckles, releasing his nose, the subtle signs of a head ache were becoming clear, the slight throbbing behind his eyes, the unfocused way he squinted his eyes against the ache.

"Well if that’s all then," Dave started.

“No wait, is it okay if I bring someone with me?” Sollux asked, shifting nervously.

“Sure, bring a frolic of bitches if you want to,” Dave chuckled overt the phone, “I gotta go, breaks over. See you later.” 

The other end clicked and Sollux was left with the dial tone playing back at him. He waited a minute before lowering the phones, scrolling through his contacts until he hesitated over one. Sollux trapped his bottom lip between his teeth, contemplating his plan before stabbing the call button with his thumb and raising it to his ear again.

"Hello? This better be good, I’m fuckin’ workin’." The other end drawled lazily, the sounds of coffee makers whooshing in the background.

"ED?"

"Sol? What do you want?” Eridan buzzed, seeming a little bit peeved by the call.

"Sorry for interrupting work, I just wanted to know if you wanted to come with me to a party tonight.” Sollux found himself holding his breath while waiting for the answer. He wasn’t sure why the long pause caused him so much worry, it wasn’t like he should give a shit whether Eridan wanted to come or not.

“Unless you still have shit with KK,” Sollux added hastily, remembering the conversation with Eridan a few days ago.

"No, he bailed on me. Said he was comin’ down with the flu or some shit.”

"Oh, so… you in?”

"Maybe, where’s this party at?”

"Dave’s condo, the whole gang is supposed to be there I guess.”

There was another pause on the line and Sollux stared at his feet, awkwardly shifting back and forth.

"Sure, can you pick me up?”

"When do you get off?"

"Half an hour, remind me to never take an extra shift on New Year's eve," He grumbled, drawing a snicker from Sollux.

"I'll pick you up." Before the other could answer, Sollux hung up and dropped the phone onto the black and red sheets.

Sollux glanced at the clock, running a hand through his massy hair. He scowled a bit at the oily feel left on his hand as he pulled it back. It was 9pm; if he hurried he could take his shower, pick up Eridan, and get to the club easy as pie.

** **40 minutes later**

Eridan was certainly NOT sulking. Although he did wear a deep frown as he kicked the pile of snow in front of him. He tugged his scarf higher up to cover his mouth and nose, the soft fabric tickling his frosty skin. He wished he had a car of his own so he didn’t have to stand here waiting for a stupid lanky prick to come pick him up. At this rate he was going to freeze to death.

Eridan kicked at the snow again, almost slipping on the ice hidden beneath it. He was just caught by a pair of arms behind him. Eridan struggle with panic as the other supported him a moment longer before releasing their grasp.

"Jesus ED, you okay?"

Eridan felt his mouth instantly go dry as he turned around to face the miss-matched eyes of his roommate. Out of the millions of people in the word he had to be the one to catch him.

"Eridan?" Sollux repeated, his head tilting to the side with a concerned frown.

"I—" Eridan yanked the scarf down to uncover his mouth, "I'm alright, thanks. Where the fuck were you?"

"Yeah…" Sollux slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat, looking apologetic. "I took a bit longer in the shower then I thought," Sollux fidgeting in his place a little. The cold had turned his nose a rosy shade of red and melted onto his usually pale cheeks.

"I guess you’re forgiven, you probably need it anyway," Eridan said, his lips quirking up in a small smile. Honestly he was looking forward to the party.

"My car is just down the road, honestly I almost missed you," Sollux mused, grabbing the sleeve of Eridan’s jacket and giving him and encouraging pull as he started walking.

Eridan stumbling a bit before falling into step beside the taller man, who still kept hold of his sleeve like it was the most natural thing to do. Eridan was almost tempted to just hold Sollux’s hand; the thought brought a painful constriction to his chest. Sollux released his sleeve as they reached the car, and Eridan slid into the passenger seat as Sollux rounded to the drivers.

"Sorry it's a little cold in here," Sollux apologized, re-starting the car, "The heat in here is fucked."

“It’s fine, can we stop back at the dorm so I can change into some presentable party clothin’?”

“As long as you don’t take an hour trying on clothing like a pre-teen girl,” Sollux replied, pulling away from Starbucks.

“I don’t fuckin’ do that. I’m sorry if I enjoy wearin’ decent clothes, unlike you.”

** **20 minutes later**

"You want to wait here while I run in?" Sollux asked, his hands just hovering over the keys.

The two had finally arrived at Dave’s club, which for some reason was a great place to meet up? Eridan personally thought it was pointless when they could head straight to the condo, but they were here now there was no point in bickering.

“I’ll come in with ya, I’m curious about the whole club thing anyway,” Eridan said, pushing the passenger side door open and stepping out. He shut the door and heard Sollux crunching in the snow after him a few seconds later.

The two of them walked past the line of party goers and waiting to get in, receiving a few dirty looks. Of which neither gave a single fuck. They were almost at the bouncer when a sickly sweet voice called out just behind them.

"Heeeeeeeey Sollux!" A pale hand with electric blue nails snaked its ways around Sollux’s are, and Vriska Serket wiggled her way between the two boys with a smirk. Vriska fluttered her dark and glittery lashes innocently, casting Eridan a short glance.

“Hey VK, what are you doing here?” Sollux asked, surprised by her sudden appearance.

“I was waiting for you two to show up, Dave had to head out to his place to start letting people in, you were taking sooooooo long.”

“So he’s not here, is what your sayin’,” Eridan interrupted, looking very annoyed by the woman’s presence and her possessive hold on Sollux.

“Pretty much. So basically I’m the messenger lady and the fee is giving me a free ride.”

“You’re fuckin’ kiddin’ right? Sol, we don’t have to give her a ride.”

“Oh piss of Eridumb, just because you have a problem with me doesn’t mean your little boyfriend can’t give me a ride,” She drawled, rolling her eyes, “Right Sollux?”

Sollux opened his mouth, unsure of what was going on at the moment. Eridan’s face was red with anger, his hands balled up by his sides and he looked about ready to get into a fight. Vriska however was looking up at him expectantly, almost bored by the situation.

“I mean… ED we can’t just leave her here.”

“Yes we fuckin’ can, I’m sure she can brainwash some other idiot to give her a ride.”

“Oh please, Eridan,” Vriska released Sollux to put her hand on her hips, “It’s like a ten minute drive, no need to get you panties in a bunch over it.”

Eridan huffed a sigh, the air coming out as a white cloud. He crossed his arms, a displeased frown on his lips but he was surrendering. Sollux raised his hands hopelessly, trying to look apologetic as he lead the way back to the vehicle.

****15 minutes Later**

Eridan was dually upset already. Vriska had been a pain in the ass the whole ride over, weaving her web of sexy lies. On top of that as soon as they arrived Sollux had been dragged away by the pale douche prince, Dave. Eridan sniffed, taking a sip of his almost empty red solo cup. Instead of writing his name in the offered back scratch square he had drawn the Aquarius sign. Most of the people here would know his signature by now. He had to admit though, Strider had a very nice place. The open living room was hardwood floors, almost bare except the black leather furniture and slim plasma television. One wall was almost completely windows with floor to ceiling red curtains, which were pulled back at the moment to reveal the night city scape. From his stance near said windows he could see the door leading onto the balcony, as well as the hall that led to the kitchen.

Eridan raised the plastic to his lips, draining the rest of his rum and coke. Drinking publically was a great way to drown your annoyances in alcohol and not get judged by it. With nothing else to do he glided into the kitchen to get a refill. He found himself alone in the empty kitchen, the alcohol lined up neatly on the tiled island.

“Yeah Sol, let’s go to a party together. Oh, wait, you have to go suck Dave’s dick right now? Oh no, that’s totally cool,” Eridan grumbled to himself as he set him cup down, reaching for the Cap’n Morgan’s. He was so busy drowning in his own thoughts that he might have filled almost half the cup with booze before setting the bottle down with a clank.

"Isn't that a bit much, Eridan?" A sweet voice said behind him.

Kanaya’s light mocha colored skin sparkled in the light, it might have been a trick of the eye, or maybe just make-up, Eridan wasn't sure. Her short black hair was styled in its usual prim manner, and her emerald green eyes, lined with black eyeliner, shone with amusement. She raised a perfectly sculpted brow at him, awaiting his answer.

"Can't blame a man for likin’ his drink strong, Kan," He mused, his eyes drifting harmlessly over her body. A red scarf rested around her neck over a tight black T-shirt, a pair of fancy European looking green skinny jeans, the row of buttons just peeking out under the hem of her shirt, and finally a pair of grey ankle boots.

"I suppose not," She said simply, moving to join him at the counter, surprisingly light on her feet. Eridan returned to making his drink, watching curiously as she mixed herself an expert Martini, make that two.

"Who's the other glass for?" Eridan asked curiously, giving his drink a small stir with a butter knife.

“Rose,” Kanaya answered, smiling very slightly.

"Does good ol' Kan here have a crush?" Eridan crooned, waggling an eyebrow. He dropped the butter knife back onto the counter where he found it before turning to lean his hip onto the counter, studying Kanaya's smooth features.

"Well I could hardly call it that, seeing as we’ve been together for quite some time."

"Right, how long has it been now?”

"Hmm," Kanaya lifted her jade eyes from the drinks and smiled, “I’m not inclined to kiss an tell, you know, but I think it’s been a few months now.”

Eridan nodded, taking a sip from his drink and immediately sputtering in response. There was a lot of fucking alcohol in it. Kanaya laughed lightly, setting both drinks down on the counter. Using a free hand she reached out to touch Eridan’s cheek, instantly going into a mothering mode.

“How have you been?”

"Not the greatest," Eridan sighed, turning his face into her palm, "He doesn't remember much, but he's hangin’ out with me more since he broke up with Aradia."

"My poor dear," Kanaya patted his cheek lightly before drawing her hand away and placing it on his shoulder instead, stepping towards him. "You must know these things take time, but at this rate I believe he will come around. Hang in there, Eridan." She placed a small kiss on his cheek before drawing away to pick up the glasses and leaving.

Kanaya was the only one of Sollux's friends that Eridan had worked on getting to know better. They hit it off almost instantly in their first meeting and from there continued on the path to the friendship they had now. It had started off with them being fashion buddies and such because if there was anything Eridan cared to know about, fashion was one of them. Their many conversations had slowly changed into something deeper, where Kanaya was always a firm and understanding shoulder to lean on, Eridan was the bold and more outgoing humorous one. In some ways they brought out the nicer sides of each other. Eridan took another long sip, wrinkling his nose at the bitter tang.

Back in the moonlit living room was the mass of dancing or socializing people. Eridan caught sight of Kanaya handing one of the martini's to Rose. He continued on scanning the crowd, spotting the buck-toothed Egbert boy with Dave, -head Pyrope, Spider Bitch and a nervous looking boy with a Mo-hawk, Gamzee was suddenly there snaking his arms around the boys waist. There were a whole lot of unimportant faces her but he spotted one with a halo of strawberry blonde hair and wide happy eyes, Feferi, a familiar face in this sea of strange people.

Eridan watched as Feferi flicked her hair over her shoulder, laughing at something Aradia had said to her. Her long fuchsia dress swirled around her, looking familiar. Eridan took another long sip from his drink before taking stride towards the two ladies.

“Fef?”

"Erifin!" exclaimed Feferi, spinning around and throwing her willowy form into his open arms. She smelled slightly like vanilla and salt water, a very nostalgic and comforting smell. Eridan let himself relax into her hug and burry his face into her long golden locks. Nobody else calmed him quite like her with her bubbly personality and cheerful energy. She pulled away, bouncing on the balls of her feet and causing her multiple bracelets to jingle against each other. "I missed you!"

"I missed ya too Fef, it's been too long."

"Whale than, let's not waste our time!" She cheered, her subtle fish puns seeping through as well as her excitement.

Feferi excused herself politely before taking a firm hold of Eridan’s cast hand, leading him towards the empty leather couch. As soon as they connected with the couch it was like nothing could stop the spilling of words and laughter, an hour passing by unnoticed.

They had spent the time talking about school, classes, art, swimming. Anything they could think of, and unlike everyone else Feferi skirted away from any topic involving Sollux. Eridan was starting to wonder where that scrawny nerd had gotten off too. Somebody announced it 10 to 12, and Eridan frowned. There was still something very important he wanted to do tonight.

"What's wrong guppy?" Feferi asked, patting his thigh, "Somefin on your mind?"

"Uh… yeah, actually," he admitted. He should have known that Feferi would catch onto his almost disappointed mood. She gave his thigh a small squeeze, peering up at him with keen eyes.

"Whale tell me about it!"

"Well I was hopin’ ta spend my last few moments of this year with Sol, but I haven't seen his mug all night," Eridan explained glumly, glancing around the room as if he'd magically appear. "So I'm a little disappointed here as you can tell."

"Awe, whale I was having a nice talk with him earlier. He seemed a lot better; he was even cracking some jokes.”

Eridan sighed, "I mean we're getting’ along well too, it's really great."

"I’m glad. I reely want to help you out…”

"Thanks Fef."

"Erifin, I know what to do!" Feferi chimed, standing up and reaching for his hand. "I will make your wish come true!" She assured.

Eridan raised his empty drink hand, his fingers being captured by hers as he stood up. Eridan stumbled while following Feferi, making her giggle. It was quite the process but she ended up ushering him onto the balcony.

"Fef, it's fuckin' cold out here," he whined, crossing his arms bitterly.

"Now now, can't be perfect fussy fins," She said pointedly, cupping his face. "Just wait RIGHT HERE, okay?"

He nodded in her hands and stood patiently while she searched his eyes. Feferi stood on her toes, placing a quick chaste kiss on Eridan cheek before bouncing off inside. He watched through the window as she whispered with Aradia, and then disappeared from sight. Honestly he had no clue what the girls plans were. But through their friendship he had learned to trust Feferi.

Eridan shuffled to the railing and smartly refrained from leaning against the cold metal. Instead he continued to hug himself and look over the snowy city at night. He must have been standing there for a while because shivers started to overtake him, racking his core. He was sniffling in the cold, bitterly regretting coming out here. Even his teeth were starting to click together.

The sound of the glass door sliding drew Eridan's attention back from his bitter thoughts. He looked to the panel door and saw Sollux stepping out in his coat, holding Eridan's black one in his hand. He was laughing, nodding to someone on the other side on the glass before the door slid shut. Eridan turned to see who it was though the windows and saw that the curtains had been drawn shut.

"Jethuth ED, you mutht be freezing," Sollux mused, lisping in his drunken state. Eridan met him halfway, taking the coat from his arms gratefully.

"Well it wasn't my idea to stand out here," He grumbled, pulling it over his stiff cold arms. He was going to zip it up but Sollux already had that covered.

"FF told me," he chuckled, grinning at him. He pulled the zipper up just under Eridan's chin before releasing it. "She altho thaid you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah…" Through the glass he heard a chorus of '1 MORE MINUTE'. It spurred something in Eridan he didn't fully recognize. "Actually here was somethin’ important I wanted to tell ya."

"Tho tell me," Sollux smiled, "I'm lithtening, completely ready, go."

Eridan chuckled, clearing his throat awkwardly. There were so many conflicting emotions at the moment, his mind trying to sift through them. It didn't help that he was pretty smashed. Sollux stood patient and intent on Eridan. Those eyes, so open and inviting still stunned Eridan. The crystal blue and deep chocolate brown, they searched his face while waiting for the big announcement.

Despite the chill Eridan could feel his palms getting clammy, his heart was in his throat pounding way too hard. Could Sollux hear it? Could he tell that every time Eridan was alone with him it picked up a little? So many stupid words and feelings were bubbling up inside and Eridan had no idea what to do with them all. Sollux touched Eridan's cheek and his teeth instantly stopped chattering, heat rising to them as blush over ruled his features.

"Eridan, you thtill with me?” Sollux questioned, a small teasing smile on his lips.

"Sol, I just wanted to spend the last moments of this year with you, because whether you remember it or not, you made my year," He breathed shakily, even the smile on Sollux's lips couldn't calm his jittering feelings. Eridan tried ducking his head but those long fingers tucked under his chin and lifted up. Sollux was closer now, barely a step away with that intense gaze, urging him to go on. "An I just really…"

10, 9… The chorus inside boomed loudly, cheering on the arrival of the New Year.

"…really want to spend this special moment with you, cause I feel like my amounts of special moments has been seriously lackin’,” He finished quickly.

8, 7…

Sollux gazed upon him silently, speechless, and Eridan could only stand there praying that Sollux wouldn’t think he was being an idiot.

6, 5, 4…

Sollux was leaning in, or maybe Eridan was, either way they were being drawn closer together. The fingers on his chin slid forward and turned into a hand in his cheek. There was the smallest space between their lips, then all at once the space was gone.

3, 2, 1!

Eridan felt as if his heart just might burst. Sollux's lips were warm and sweetly familiar. The way they felt against his own was like a bliss he had almost forgotten, like an old friend he dearly missed. Eridan pressed closer to Sollux, his arms carefully finding their way around Sollux's neck, chilled fingers loosing themselves in brown locks. Sollux responded positively, moving his arms around Eridan's middle, leaving his cheek cold where his hand had been. They stayed like that, their lips simply moving against each other. The simplest kiss there possibly was but it meant so much more than any kiss Eridan had ever received. When Sollux slowly pulled away both men were breathless.

"Sol?" Eridan whispered, breaking the comfortable silence.

"I… I don’t…” came the soft response, Sollux pulled back, breaking the embrace with a shocked look on his face.

“W-what?” Eridan questioned, shifting nervously, “W-why do you look like you’re freakin’ out right now?”

This reminded Eridan of something, an almost ironic thought. His first kiss with Sollux had been a drunken lusty kiss in the dorm room, afterwards both men had become spooked. Tonight this was like Sollux's first kiss with Eridan all over again.

"ED… 'm thorry."

"Fer w-what?"

"For forgetting," Sollux looked truly saddened, making Eridan frown.

"That's not your fault," Eridan said, shaking his head, "So don't even apologize for that."

Sollux stared back at him, still looking depressed but he didn't protest Eridan's words. The taller man still looked troubled, maybe because of the sudden kiss, maybe the apology. Either way Eridan decided to diffuse the situation.

"Ready to get this party on?" Eridan mused, determined to cheer up his brain damaged nerd. Eridan was starting to think that maybe, even if Sollux didn't remember everything, they could get their relationship back. Maybe he could make Sollux fall in love with him all over again. "Because I don't think I've gotten to dance with you yet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, those feels.


	7. Asinine Awakenings, Thoughtful Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some deep conversation commence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea with this title, I just like the word asinine

**January 1**

Sollux shifted restlessly, kicking at the sheets wrapped around his ankles. His eyes squinted as he took in the black and white walls, and the bright red blankets in a bundle beside him. It took him a moment to realize that the bundle was actually a person, one with shocking white hair and endearing light freckles. It brought a smile to Sollux's lips as he slowly sat up. Dave looked so innocent and harmless while he was sleeping. Sollux slid his legs over the edge of the bed, silently groaning. He definitely had a hang-over and some slight memory loss, at the moment. He wasn't entirely sure what happened after him and Eridan got back inside other than the many hours of dancing and some more drinking; a lot more drinking.

Sollux lifted himself off the bed and slowly shuffled out of the room, cradling his head in one hand while the other skimmed the wall for support. He paused at the slightly open door on his right, lifting his head enough to get a peek inside. It looked like a simple spare room with a bare mattress on the floor which was currently occupied by John Egbert; his dark brown hair spread in a messy halo around his childish looking face. Sollux blinked tiredly and continued his journey to the kitchen. Just before he turned in he spotted another figure on the couch. From this angle he could see a lean arm stretched out and a bit of exposed back. The muscles twitched as the figure shifted in his sleep, exposing a messy strand of purple.

Sollux canted his head to the side, ignoring the jarring head-ache for a moment. He sauntered towards the sleeping violet prince, quietly admiring the exposed skin. Once he was hovering over the couch he realized Eridan was wearing just his boxers. His clothing was scattered on the floor and his thick rimmed glasses were sitting on the glass coffee table. His usually primed hair was disorderly and disheveled from his sleep on the couch.

"Mmm," Eridan shifted again, almost swatting Sollux with his numb arms.

Sollux chuckled and leaned forward, gently prodding Eridan's cheek. For a moment nothing happened, Sollux went to poke him again when the other man’s face scrunched up and suddenly he found his finger caught in-between Eridan’s teeth.

"FUCK!" Sollux cursed in a harsh whisper. Eridan's eyes shot open, struggling to focus on the blurry figure cradling his hand.

"Sol?" Eridan squinted, sitting up on the couch. He was becoming aware of a metal tang in his mouth. "What the fuck?" He questioned, running his tongue over the front of his teeth.

"You bit me athwhole!" Sollux explained, sticking up his bleeding index finger. Eridan reached behind him for his glasses and slid them on for a better look.

"Well why the fuck was your finger near my mouth?"

"I wath trying to wake you up and athk if you wanted coffee!"

"Oh, well yes. I would. How about ya get on that and I'll find ya a band-aid."

"Jutht hurry up before I make your coffee with my blood," Sollux grumbled, stalking back off towards the kitchen. He took a second to wrap paper towel around his injured finger before grabbing two mugs from the cupboard. After searching through multiple shelves of cans and plates he found the package of Tassimo discs.

"Hey, I got your band-aid," Eridan yawned as he padded into the kitchen, now dressed in his purple v-neck along with his boxers.

Sollux set down the plastic container he was holding to stick out his injured finger, blood already visible through the towel.

"What? You want me ta put it on ya now?" Eridan mused, gently unwrapping the bleeding digit. He carefully wiped it down to find the point where his canine had dug too far.

"Jethuth jutht hurry up pleathe!" Sollux whined staring at the small hole in the side of his finger.

Eridan nodded, taking a moment to unwrap the band-aid. It was a little more difficult when he one arm was still being weighed down by a cast, but he managed to pull the brown strip out. He placed the padding against the wound and wrapped up Sollux’s finger.

"Want me to kiss it better too,” Eridan mocked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"No,” Sollux pouted, inspecting his fresh band-aid.

"You baby,” Eridan muttered, stepping past him to make his own coffee.

“I could of done that,” Sollux interjected, glancing up.

“Yeah, well I bit you so take this as an apology.”

While Eridan went through the steps of making their cups of coffee Sollux cleared of the island, throwing out the empty cups and setting the bottles aside for recycling. By the time he was done Eridan had both cups ready to go.

"What are you doing?" Sollux asked, leaning forward as Eridan spooned some sticky substance into one of the mugs. Eridan didn't answer, only stirred up the drink and handed it to Sollux before making his own.

"Just drink it Sol, trust me." Sollux stared at the rim of the chipped red mug, his fingers stroking the handle absently. With a shrug he gave in and took a cautious sip. It was still hot, but it was smooth and had a very sweet tang to it. A very familiar sweet tang… It was honey. Eridan had put honey in his coffee.

"How did you know?" Sollux asked, setting the cup back down. "How did you know I liked honey in my coffee, I only ever drink it black at the dorm."

"Sol," Eridan brought his own cup over to the island and sat down across from him, "I lived with you almost a year now an I think I know what ya like."

The two feel into a comfortable silence while drinking their coffee until Sollux started humming. At first he wasn't completely aware of doing, but Eridan stiffened. After a few more moments of staring into his cup Eridan started whispering faintly.

"What wath that?" Sollux asked, titling his head to the side.

"Nothin’ Sol."

"You're lying, what ith- is…" Sollux trailed off, his eye brows knitting together slightly, "Was I lisping that whole time?" He asked, completely off subject. Eridan looked just as taken off guard by the random change and responded in a small nod. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why should I?" Eridan answered with another question, sipping on his drink again while refusing to make eye contact with Sollux.

"Don't you hate it when I lisp?"

"Why would I hate it?!" Eridan looked up and Sollux caught the hint of hurt shock in the others voice and eyes. He looked… fiercely protective. "Sol, there are a lot of things I hate but none of them involve you, or the way ya speak okay?"

It was Sollux's turn to nod dumbly as Eridan continued. "I think your lisp is actually the most adorable things ever, okay? An before the… accident you never used to cover it up around me. It was like our special thing, because I'd stop tryin’ to hide my accent and shit too… An now that we're talkin’ about it… can we have that back?" By the end the fierceness had drained from Eridan's eyes, replaced by a hopeful glint.

"Yeah, ED," Sollux agreed, feeling like another small piece of his puzzled life had been put back together. Honestly it was a huge weight off his shoulders. It was horrible going through every day like nobody REALLY knew you or accepted you. It was terrifying to have his lisp slip up in public because everyone would just laugh at him, wouldn't they? Eridan visibly seemed to sag in relief and he ran a hand through his still messy hair.

"Tho, what'th your plan for today?"

"Actually… I w-was w-wonderin' if I could borrow your car…" Eridan looked up with an almost shy expression, which was a very odd. Considering one, this was the confident asshole. And two, it was hot as hell.

"Ith that your acthent?" Sollux asked absently, taking a mental image of Eridan's face.

"Yessir, now-w about the car, I really need to borrow-w it."

"Right, thure, the keyth are in my jeanth."

***20 Minutes Later**

Sollux shut the door behind Eridan as he left the apartment. It was pretty close to noon at this point, but Dave and John were still sleeping soundly in the other rooms. With nothing else to do Sollux plopped down on the couch in his boxers and flicked on the tv, keeping it on low volume.

There was nothing interesting on, so Sollux just settled on a marathon of Doctor Who, watching as David Tennant went on his adventures with Donna. At some point his mind started to wander, pondering over last night and everything that had happened.

He had kissed Eridan.

For some reason that seemed to stand out more than anything else in the night, like nothing else mattered. Everything was always about Eridan, the way he felt, the way he looked, the way he sounded. Sollux sighed wistfully as he remembered the way the other male’s lips had felt against his own. Eridan had returned the kiss like it was the most natural thing in the world. That scared the hell out of him.

Sollux began to fidget, unable to sit still on the couch. He needed someone to calm him down, to explain that there was nothing weird about what happened. There was only one person Sollux knew would understand the situation. He got up from the couch and sleuthed around until he located his pants, and then his cell.

Sollux put his pants on while he had them in his possession, as well as his shirt, coat, and shoes. Then he stepped out onto the balcony to make a call.

“What do you want,” A husky voice answered.

Sollux frowned, lowering the phone to make sure he had called the right contact.

“Karkat? You sound like shit.”

“Thank you, Agent Asshat. What other obvious observation would you like to make?”

“Sorry,” Sollux apologized, “I just need to… uh… well talk to you about something that happened I guess.”

“What happened?” Karkat asked shortly, a fit of couching sounded on the other end of the line.

“Jesus, are you dying?”

“Just tell me what happened or I’m hanging up.”

“Fine, I kissed Eridan,” Sollux blurted, feeling the blush on his cheeks already.

“You… what?”

“Yeah. We were standing on the balcony and everyone was counting down to midnight and it was really fucking sudden okay? I just felt the sudden drunk urge to kiss him and I did.”

“Okay, I’m not seeing the problem here yet.”

“Well I kind of have this thin with Dave?”

“Holy shit Captor, fuck you. Dave is a complete asshole and you should end any such thing with him before he ruins you.”

“He’s not that bad KK,” Sollux sighed, rubbing his face with his free hand.

“Yes he is. Also, you should not be pulling a delicate flower such as Eridan into your stupid shit. The guy is fucked up about you already; you don’t need to be toying with his emotions too.”

“I know! Which is why I’m freaking out here okay? I think I actually like this dick prince and when I kissed him he kissed me back so easy it fucking scared me. And I panicked and backed out of that shit show.”

“You panicked because someone actually wants to fucking kiss your scrawny ass? You should be thanking the fucking gods of love and all that is holy”

“I don’t appreciate your sass KK.”

“I don’t appreciate you calling me with your asinine problems,” Kakrat grouched, coughing again, “I think you need to make up your stupid mind, whatever, Dave, Eridan, but don’t be fucking around with Eridan if you’re not serious.”

“Right,” Sollux sighed, “Thanks KK.”

“Yeah, no problem shitface, I’ll talk to you later.”

The call ended on that friendly note and Sollux stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He stood out in the could for another few minutes and then returned into the house to watch some more tv.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh, I'll try to keep uploading a chapter every day or two now! I'm changing A LOT of stuff in the next few chapters so they take a bit longer to work out. I hope that's okay. 
> 
> We're like halfway through already, I can hardly believe it.


	8. You're Just Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :I I got nothin'

**January 1, 2012.**

Eridan crossed his arms tightly as he trudged through the underground parking lot to Sollux's car. As much as he wished he could have spent all day hanging around with the guys he had a very important person to visit. He also wished he could have taken a shower or something. He had just managed to comb his hair into some sort of order, his bangs dropping over his forehead; but his shirt was wrinkled and his pants felt too tight for a 1 o'clock in the afternoon outing.

Eridan sighed, his breath puffing into a small white cloud as he spotted Sollux’s vehicle. He hurried over, his hands shaking as he fumbled to unlock the car. It took a little longer than it should have but Eridan managed to let himself into the vehicle and start it up. It took another few minutes for it to heat up, then he was off.

Sollux hadn’t really asked why he needed the car, which seemed highly irresponsible. It was a good thing Eridan was such an upstanding citizen and was using it for the greater good. The greater good that was Karkat’s life.

Eridan was actually pretty worried about his friend. The past few weeks there had been a dullness to Karkat's usually fiery mood. On top of that he had completely called off their plans last minute, claiming to have the plague. A completely absurd claim but whatever Karkat had it was not good.

Eridan chewed his bottom lip, a worried habit of his. He probably should have called before making his was to Karkat's house, he thought, but it was a bit too late for that. The house was coming up right away.

"No turnin' back now-w," he breathed to himself

Eridan pulled in next to the familiar truck and shut off the car. He took his time walking up to the house, still nervously chewing his lower lip. He didn't even get a chance to raise his arm to knock when then door opened. A pair of sharp eyes peered at him through a mess of tangled black hair.

"Hey motherfucker."

"Uh, hi, Gam," Eridan stuttered.

Gamzee looked almost… scary. His eyes were attentive and clear and dark icy blue. Despite his hair being a mess of bangs it looked more orderly, freshly washed and poofed up. Even his clothes were clean and for god sake he wasn't wearing pajama bottoms. The most off-setting feature though, was the make-up; or more correctly, the lack of. Without the make-up and high as fuck look Gamzee looked like a fucking badass, he even had the scars running down the side of his face.

"Is Kar here?" Eridan asked, finally finding his voice.

"Sure is, Motherfucker," Gamzee barked, releasing a honking laugh, "All fucking cooped up in his room!"

Eridan felt his fingers twitch as he resisted the urge to flinch back. Gamzee had gotten closer, forcing Eridan to look up to meet the others eyes. A large hand clamped down on Eridan's shoulder making him jerk back.

"You're alright, for a motherfucker," Gamzee mused, his hands slipping away as Gamzee walked past and off the porch. Eridan turned to stare after him, watching as the man hunch over and walked away.

"Will someone close the fucking door? Why is it even open? Gamzee?!"

Eridan spun around, quickly entering through the still open door and closing it behind him. He toed off his shoes and followed the irritated cursing down the hall until he came to a slightly open door.

"Kar?" Eridan asked slowly, giving the door a slight nudge with his foot.

The room beyond was dimly lit by the television, which seemed to be paused on Chopped. As he pushed the door open further he spotted the bed across from the T.V, a small mound of blankets situated in the middle.

"Kar?" Eridan repeated, stepping into the room.

The pile of blankets let out a choked sound, pulling down to reveal the top half of Karkat's face. Karkat's bright eyes were now dim and heavy purple rimmed his eyes. His hair looked messier than ever and his whole body seemed to be shrinking in on itself.

"Jesus, Kar you look like shit," Eridan frowned, stepping over piles of clothed to reach the bed. Karkat attempted what was probably supposed to be a mean glare, but instead it just looked weak.

"Thank you, oh wise one," Karkat grumbled, his voice low and hoarse.

Eridan dropped down onto the corner of the bed and pressed the back of his hand to Karkat's forehead. The other flinched away at first, but stayed still as Eridan checked his temperature.

"Ya feel a lil hot," Eridan frowned, moving his hand to Karkat's cheek. "W-what's the diagnoses then?"

"Everything is shit," Karkat breathed. His voice cracked in random places like he was losing his voice, “That is the diagnosis.”

"W-what, just sore or somethin'?"

"No. Worse," Karkat lowered the blanket and went into a fit of coughing, wincing with each one. When he finally recovered there was the hint of tears in his eyes. "It hurts, so bad," he whined, “I’m hot, and tired, and sore all over. My throat feels like I’ve deep throated burning irons, and my head is pounding like all the time.”

"Shit, Kar," Eridan started, only to be cut of as Karkat held up his hand for him to stop talking.

"No, you shut you stupid pie-hole Eridan. I am in no mood to deal with your pity," Karkat shivered and wiped at his eyes.

"How-w long has this been goin' on?" Eridan asked softly, cautiously brushing back the tangled matt of hair.

"That sounds a lot like pity asshole... But it started about a week ago?"

Eridan decided to ignore the fact that he could have been infected with whatever illness Karkat had and stood up instead. "Come on, let's get ya cleaned up a bit an I'll make ya some tea, okay?"

Karkat nodded weakly and Eridan helped him up off the bed, slipping his arm around the other's shoulders. Karkat leaned on him all the way to the bathroom where Eridan started up the shower for him.

"Thank you for he—"

"Shh!" Eridan interrupted, "Save your voice. You can shower on your ow-wn, right?"

Karkat looked up with a scowl, nodding his head in answer to Eridan’s ridiculous question.

“I’ll grab you a pair of clean clothes,” Eridan said, sneaking out of the bathroom.

Eridan back tracked to the bedroom and flicked on the actual lights. The room was messy, but under the clothing was shiny brown hard-wood flooring and the wall that wasn't covered with movie posters was red. It was a fair sized room that was for sure. Eridan shuffled through the mess to the closet and looked through Karkat's wardrobe.

Someone needed to be taken shopping. It should be illegal to own this much neutral clothing. Eridan sifted through the clothes and finally settled on a soft pair of black sweats and white V-neck. Comfy clothing always made him feel ten times better; maybe the same applied to Karkat. Eridan quickly folded them up and carried them to the washroom. Inside the shower was still going with the irregular sound of water hitting the floor as someone washed themselves. As much as Eridan might enjoy the sight of Karkat's shadow behind the curtain, he closed his eyes and went in blind.

Somehow he managed to set the items on the counter and leave to room without running into anything like an idiot. Once in the hallway he closed the door again and made his way to the Vantas/Makara kitchen. It looked about the same as when they had come for Christmas dinner. The tiled counters were nice and cleaned and the only dishes in the sink looked like they were from today's breakfast and lunch.

Eridan spotted the electric kettle tucked away in the corner by the sink. He plugged it in and filled it up with water, leaving the thing to boil as he searched the cupboards for tea bags. It took a minute of looking through different cupboards but he finally found a few boxes of different flavoured tea.

He honestly had no idea which one Karkat would like, so he left the boxes on the counter and started the search for mugs. That took a lot less time and there were only tan mugs on the shelf. He grabbed one of them and placed it next to the boxes of tea, satisfied with his accomplishments.

A loud banging caught his attention and he rushed to the bathroom to make sure Karkat was alright. He tapped the door a couple of times and called out, hoping Karkat hadn’t slipped in the shower and passed out or something.

The door cracked open slightly and Eridan could see a sliver of Karkat’s face peeking through, his wet hair dripping into his face.

“Towel.”

"Towel?" Eridan repeated dumbly, "Oh! Uh, yeah I’ll be right back.”

The door clicked shut again and Eridan looked up and down the hallway as if a towel would be sitting there. There was none. He shuffled back into Karkat’s room, but found nothing like as clean towel in there. After stumbling around the house he found the linin closet and swiped a creamy towel off the pile, returning to the bathroom door with another knock.

"Thanks," Karkat huffed, reaching out with his bare arm to grab the towel and reel it back in.

"Sure, also, w-what tea do you w-want?"

"The one with my name on the box, obviously."

Eridan blinked and stalked off to the kitchen. There was a box with Karkat's name on it? How could he have missed that! After checking all the containers and boxes again Eridan found the one with _KARKAT_ scrawled on the side in red sharpie. The box was just a regular old one but the name was some cryptic shit. All Eridan knew for sure was that it smelt sweet and fruity ish.

Eridan put the tea bag into Karkat’s mug and poured in the boiling water. He took a minute to find a spoon before throwing it in the mug as well, giving it a little stir. Karkat shuffled into the kitchen with the towel around his neck and the clean clothes clinging to his damp skin.

"Your tea, sir," Eridan mused, taking the steamy cup and setting it on the table.

Karkat sniffed and took a seat in front of the cup, wrapping his hands around the mug as Eridan pulled out the seat next to him. Eridan stayed sitting at the table with Karkat for the time it took the other to finish the tea. They didn't say much until Karkat was done.

"You wanna watch a movie?" Karkat rasped, setting down his empty cup.

"I'd love too."

Karkat smiled and pushed back his chair, waiting for Eridan to do the same before he led him by the hand to his bedroom. Karkat flipped the lights off again and pushed Eridan over to the bed, looking almost excited as he went through his movie collection. Eridan shifted the blankets around to make a sort of nest for the two of them to sit in.

Karkat joined him in the nest a minute later, the trailers and pre-show stuff for the movie already flicking across the screen. Karkat had ended up picking 'Stranger Than Fiction'. A nice, safe, romantic comedy the both of them could enjoy with their love for Will Ferrell. Almost two hours later they were listening to the ending lines, Karkat quietly whispering them beside Eridan.

_"Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy, we can thank God for Bavarian sugar cookies. And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies, we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin, or a kind and loving gesture, or subtle encouragement, or a loving embrace, or an offer of comfort, not to mention hospital gurneys and nose plugs, an uneaten Danish, soft-spoken secrets, and Fender Stratocasters, and maybe the occasional piece of fiction. And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties, which we assume only accessorize our days, are effective for a much larger and nobler cause. They are here to save our lives…"_

Karkat broke off his reciting of the movie with another couching fit. This one seemed to make the bed even tremble with the violence of the it. When he finally finished he was gasping for air, tears stinging the corners of his eyes. Eridan looked at him fearfully.

"Are ya sure you're okay? Do you need to go to a hospital?" Eridan asked, rubbing his friends back.

"No. I'm fine," Karkat said curtly, standing up. "I'll be fine. But it's late, you should probably get going. Sollux probably wants his car back."

Eridan slowly got up and nodded, "You're probably right," He mumbled, allowing the other to usher him out into the hall and back to the doorway. "If ya w-want I can probably sw-wing by an visit tomorrow-w," Eridan offered.

He was answered by another bout of coughing, making him frown as he focused on balancing while putting his shoes on. Eventually the hacking stopped, followed by a sudden thud. Eridan spun around to see Karkat on all fours.

"Karkat?!" Eridan launched forward and kneeled beside Karkat, who flinched and turned his head away. "Kar, w-what's w-wrong?!" he demanded as the other lunched into more coughing. Eridan tried to get Karkat to face him again, and when he did Karkat was still covering his mouth.

"W-what? Kar, w-what is it!" Eridan worried, holding the other's shoulders. Karkat began to shudder, sobbing behind his hand and tears began flowing freely. When Eridan tried to pull him closer Karkat weakly shoved him away. Eridan fell back on his butt, frowning deeply.

Eridan sighed, his gaze flickering to the floor. He rolled forward on the balls of his feet again, trying to pat Karkat on the back, any kind of reassurance. He was at a loss of what to do when something caught his eyes. Looking down he saw scarlet drops on the floor, fresh spots.

Eridan looked up sharply at Karkat, Karkat who was coughing again, trying to keep his mouth covered. The blood was seeping down his chin and neck, some blood had already started to stain the sides of his V-neck. When the coughing stopped Karkat dropped his hand weakly, keeping himself from falling forward. His hand made a sickly splatting sound and blood continued to drip from his wet lips, joined with tears still streaking down his face. Eridan gaped at his friend, his heart clenching.

"Oh cod," Eridan gasped, leaping to his feet.

Eridan raced back to the bedroom, grabbing the creamy towel Karkat had used after his shower. He rushed back to Karkat's side, first mopping up some of the blood on the floor and on Karkat's hand before handing him the towel. Karkat accepted it weakly, dabbing his red mouth.

 "Hold on, I'm takin' you to the hospital."

Eridan stood up, pulling Karkat along with him. The other man made no protest, moving with Eridan limply. Eridan leaned him against the wall, finding a pair of boots and stuffing Karkat’s feet into them, throwing a winter jacket around his shoulders before ushering him out of the house.

Eridan himself went in just his T-shirt, shivering as he led Karkat to the vehicle. He stuffed Karkat inside, making sure he was okay before stumbling over to the driver’s seat.

“God, what’s wrong with me?” Karkat cried as Eridan started the car, pulling away from the house.

“You’re just sick.”

“Jesus Eridan, how many sick people do you know that couch up blood?” Karkat whined, wiping his mouth again.

“To be honest, none. But it’s probably and infection or somethin’,” Eridan answered, focusing on the road, his grip tight on the wheel.

“Oh god, what if I have cancer? Goddammit, if God exists then He is the shittiest guy ever. This is not fucking ironic or funny in any way.”

“Kar, you don’t have cancer! Shut up!”

At least Eridan desperately hoped Karkat didn’t have cancer. He couldn’t handle losing another one of his friends. He didn’t like the helplessness, he couldn’t handle it. Not again. So he drove a little faster, attempting to get Karkat to the hospital as soon as possible.


End file.
